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30th November 2024 marks 150 years since the birth of Winston Churchill, who went on to become perhaps Britain’s most famous prime minister. Born into a wealthy and aristocratic family, his father Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill was the second son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough while his mother, Jennie Jerome, was the daughter of Leonard Jerome, an American financier based in New York, and his wife Clarissa (Clara).
Lord Randolph and Miss Jennie Jerome met in August 1873 at a sailing regatta on the Isle of Wight, having been introduced by the then Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. By all accounts Lord Randolph was immediately smitten with Miss Jerome, and the Archive includes a number of letters exchanged between them during those few months of courting (CHAR 28/2/103, CHAR 28/92/101-102), CHAR 28/92/17-20 and more) which give us an insight into their relationship and plans for their future marriage.
The two were married on 15th April 1874, and their first son, Winston, was born less than 8 months later on 30th November at the magnificent Blenheim Palace, the Marlborough family’s ancestral home. Whether he was conceived before the marriage had taken place, or was born prematurely, is a point of disagreement amongst historians. This document from the archive, gives us something of a clue.
In this letter from Lord Randolph to Clara Jerome, Jennie’s mother, he writes to give her the good news of Winston’s birth, and to tell her that ‘all is well with my darling Jennie’. He goes on to report that Jennie had had ‘a fall on Tuesday walking with the shooters, & a rather imprudent & rough drive in a pony carriage’ which, he says ‘brought on the [labour] pains on Saturday night’, and that ‘it went on all Sunday’. He writes that Lady Churchill ‘suffered a good deal...but was excellent’. Caught short by this early arrival, they had to borrow ‘baby things’ from the Woodstock solicitor’s wife.
As to whether this fall, and rough carriage drive, truly did bring about a premature birth, or whether this was simply a story Lord and Lady Churchill chose to tell the world, we can never know. What is however clear, is the affection Lord Randolph had for his wife and new son which shines through in this document.
